Indigenous people participate in a ritual in Tulum, Mexico, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010. People from different indigenous organizations met to celebrate a ritual in Tulum before attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held in Cancun, some 130 km from Tulum. The banner in background reads in Spanish “The indigenous forests are oxygen factories for Mexico and the world” Photo: Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Mexico: naar ‘t altijd warme land van de Maya’s
Mexico: naar ‘t altijd warme land van de Maya’s
Combineer oude culturen met veel Caribisch strandplezier
woensdag 01 december 2010 Taken from Its Original Post at: www.opreisgids.nl
Wie naar Mexico gaat, ook in ons koudste seizoen altijd lekker vanwege zijn warme winterzon, bezoekt het land van de Maya’s. Maar de resten van die oude, bijzondere cultuur zijn niet het enige dat je moet gaan zien. Ga ook naar de Riviera Maya, met zijn luxe resorts, zijn hagelwitte stranden en zijn themaparken. En naar de stad Cancún, een Las Vegas in het klein aan de warme Caribische Zee , met letterlijk alles wat het toeristenhartje begeert.
De Piramide van Kukulcán is de belangrijkste trekpleister van de Maya cultuur in het noordoosten van Mexico.
Chichén Itzá is voor toeristen die meer willen weten van leven en cultuur van de vroegere bewoners van Mexico één van de grootste trekpleisters. Het was één van de belangrijkste steden van de Maya’s, die er onder meer de indrukwekkende Piramide van Kukulcán bouwden. Een absolute must see, gelegen ten westen van het rustige, koloniale stadje Vallodolid op het schiereiland Yucatán.
Wereldwonder
Chitzén Itza staat op de werelderfgoedlijst van Unesco en werd in 2007 uitgeroepen tot één van de zeven nieuwe wereldwonderen.
Vroeg op pad
Als je op je gemak van alle schatten en herinneringen aan het oude Mexico wil genieten moet je er vroeg bij zijn, zegt Pepe Lopez, onze gids. Dus zitten we klokslag zeven uur ‘s ochtends in het busje, dat ons in een uur of drie van ons verblijd, zuidelijk van Cancún , via een korte stop in het vriendelijke, koloniaal ogende, stadje Vallodolid naar het land van de Maya’s brengt.
Souvenirverkopers
Vroeg aankomen heeft als voordeel, dat er nog weinig andere toeristen zijn. En bovendien is het nog niet zo warm. Dat betekent wél wat véél aandacht van de vele souvenirverkopers, maar daar valt mee te leven. Bovendien zijn ze niet echt opdringerig en hebben ze soms echt mooie, handgemaakte spullen, waar je best even naar mag kijken. Als we halverwege de middag alles hebben gezien en weer vertrekken, zijn we blij dat we Pepe’s advies hebben gevolgd.
Verre vooruders
Chichén ligt in het noorden van de Mexicaanse staat Yucatán en werd volgens de historici pas laat in de geschiedenis van de Maya belangrijk, nl. in de 9e eeuw. Toch is er zoveel te zien dat onze gids aanknopingspunten te over heeft om ons uitgebreid bij te praten over zijn verre voorouders. Het zijn verhalen van soms barre tijden, maar ook van de onwaarschijnlijk grote kennis, die de Maya’s hadden van astronomie en wetenschap.
Mayakalender
Het volk, dat zich waarschijnlijk al rond 2000 jaar voor Christus in Zuid-Amerika vestigde, heeft zijn reputatie gevestigd met onder meer een eigen tijdrekening en kalender, en de bouwwerken op Chichén Itza getuigen van een diep inzicht in de bewegingen van zon en maan en van architectuur.
Bij de ruïnes van Tulum fotograferen toeristen vooral de mooie natuur
Begrijpelijk
Gids Pepe Lopez is universitair geschoold en afgestudeerd in de historie en cultuur van zijn voorouders. Hij brengt het verhaal van de Maya’s en hun talrijke mysteries in begrijpelijk taal en in mooi en goed verstaanbaar Engels.
How I Got Five Acres of Private Jungle in the Middle of Mexico’s Next Boom
How I Got Five Acres of Private Jungle in the Middle of Mexico’s Next Boom
Posted on August 5, 2010 by Dan Prescher at International Living
The beaches at Tulum on the Caribbean coast of Mexico are some of the most beautiful stretches of white sand and turquoise water on the entire planet.
Fortunately for me and my wife, Suzan, these sensational beaches are an easy drive from our home in Merida, the capital city of Mexico’s Yucatan State. We can hop in the car after breakfast, hit the well-paved road south, and be in Tulum by lunch time. It makes for an easy and relaxing weekend getaway.
But even with the easy drive, we often wondered what it would be like to actually live in Tulum with these stunning beaches right at our doorstep. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true!
We always thought this was an impossible dream…most of the beachfront around Tulum has long been locked up by resorts and boutique hotels, and what is left is either protected natural preserve or astronomically expensive.
That’s why we sat up and took notice several years ago when a friend of ours told us about an eco-friendly, off-the-grid residential project just 11 kilometers from those dream beaches. Since it was right on the road we take to Tulum, we decided to stop and have a look on our next drive down to the beach.
At that time, Los Arboles Tulum didn’t have its large front gate and well-paved entrance road, so we drove right past it on our way in to town to meet our contact. But when we drove back up the highway and turned off onto a small dirt road between the trees, we were immediately engulfed by Tulum’s lush, teeming jungle. Only a few yards in, and the highway may as well have been a million miles away.
We wound between massive tree trunks holding up a dense canopy of leaves that hid the noonday sun and made the jungle floor shady and cool. Birds and butterflies darted about through the dappled shadows and between the looping, trailing vines that filled the spaces under the green canopy. Bright, colorful life seemed to be everywhere we looked.
It immediately occurred to me that this was the best of both world’s… a secluded, shady, nature-filled home site just a five-minute scooter ride from one of the best beaches on earth, yet sheltered from the wind, blazing sun, and corrosive salt air.
And the fact that the covenants at Los Arboles Tulum would keep it a low-impact, environmentally friendly, eco-conscious development really appealed to the old hippy in me.
I was almost sold…and then I learned that the lot sizes at Los Arboles Tulum averaged five acres. Five acres! This was to ensure that this vital jungle environment never became over-developed. The majority of each lot at Los Arboles Tulum is setaside…preserved from construction or modification. That meant I could build as large a home as I needed or wanted and still be surrounded by so much of this incredible forest that the chances of seeing or hearing my nearest neighbor were almost nil.
And for the price these guys were asking for five acres of primary jungle to call our own—and so close to the world-class Tulum beach—it didn’t take Suzan and I long to make a decision.
Of course, at that time we had no idea that Tulum was just a few years from becoming Mexico’s Next Big Thing. Since we bought at Los Arboles Tulum, a new international airport has been announced that will soon bring an estimated 3 million new visitors a year to this once off-the-radar destination. A new world-class golf course has sprung up just a few miles away. And a new highway bypass under construction up the road at bustling Playa del Carmen will soon let drivers zoom right past Playa’s crowds and traffic to the new southern anchor of the Riviera Maya. Our little Tulum.
People in the area have understandably mixed feeling about Tulum’s sudden stardom. The new airport and improved highways will be game changers here in a lot of ways.
But one thing is for sure…the economic boom about to engulf Tulum makes my quiet, secluded, shady five acres in the jungle even more appealing to me. That magnificent beach will still be there, and I’ll still be just a few minutes away from it, and I will still have my jungle-wrapped peace and privacy.
Like I said…best of both worlds.
Editor’s note: Los Arboles appeared in a recent issue of Real Estate Trend Alert—members can get one of those big five-acre lots for $500 a month.
FOURTH ANNUAL KITEBOARDING DEMO DAY
FOURTH ANNUAL KITEBOARDING DEMO DAY
An exciting weekend to practice sports and have fun on the beaches of Tulum
EXTREME CONTROL Kiteboarding School, would like to invite you to an excellent celebration of our Beach Life Style with awesome sports such as kiteboarding, Stand Up Paddleboarding, beach volley and Groovy Music and whole lot of fun on the beautiful beaches of TULUM in the Riviera Maya, Mexico.
The 4th Annual Kiteboarding Demo Day will be celebrated on December 18th at Playa El ParaisoPlaya Esperanza and December 19th at Cabañas Tulum/Ziggy Beach.
The idea is to have local people and tourists enjoy the natural beach lifestyle that Tulum is famous for and promote active eco-tourism. We will have the first edition of the Fantasy Games, Kiteboarding Demo Day, Kiteboarding Free Try Out, Wave Kayaks ( first Time in Tulum), PaddleBoards, Beach Volley, Dj’s, Live Music ,Food and Tournaments!!!!
Do not miss your chance to demo the newest kiteboarding equipment from BEST, RRD and ADVANCE. Come and try out the new equipment!
If the wind God, IK, will be our friend we will organize an epic Downwind from Playa Paraiso to Ziggy Beach Saturday December 18th at sunset.
Activities will start around 10am, until sunset and into the night! It is certainly a date that any Beach, Wind and Sea lover can`t miss.
Please contact us if you need accommodations.
Any other idea are welcome ………. 
Equipment to test
RRD KITEBOARDING
Obsession 2011 mq.7
Obsession 2011 mq.10.5
Obsession 2011 mq.15
Passion 2011 mq.11
Religion 2011 mq.8
Addiction 2010 mq.12
BEST KITEBOARDING
Taboo 12mt
Taboo 10mt
Bularoo v2 12mt
Bularoo v2 9mt
Bularoo v2 7mt
ADVANCE KITEBOARDING ITALY — CALIBRO 9 KITEBOARDS ITALY
THE MUSIC
Dj Chain
LA PURA CANDELA (420 crew)
QUINTANA ROOTS SOUND SYSTEM (420 crew)
BOLAFUNK (420 crew)
QUINTANA ROOTS SOUND SYSTEM (420 crew)
BOLAFUNK (420 crew)
Activities
Kiteboarding Free Tryout
PaddleBoarding Free Tryout
Beach Volley
Wave Kayaks
Games
Sandal Toss
Sack Race
Paddle Boarding Race
Coconut Toss
Ball Drop
Stick Running
Tequila War
Towel Volley
PRIZE
Dinner for 2 People at Restaurant La Luna
Dinner for 2 People at Posada Margherita
Continental Breakfast for 2 people at Pacha Mama
Lunch or Dinner for 2 people at Pacha Mama
Ice Cream at Panna & Cioccolato
Excursion Cichen Itza o Coba offer from I Tour Mexico
Kiteboarding Lesson for 2 people offer from Extreme Control
Special Menu: Cabañas Tulum
- Beer bucket (4) & Hot Dog 120 pesos
- Beer bucket (4) & Nachos 120 pesos
- Beer bucket (4) & Hamburger 120 pesos
Special Menu: El Paraiso Beach Club
- Paraiso Hamburger and French fries with water or soda 120 pesos +Tax
- Club Sandwich and French fries with water or soda 120 pesos + Tax
- Quesadillas with water or soda 120 pesos + Tax
- 5 Beers (Sol, XX, Tecate o Tecate Light) 120 pesos +tax
Cancún: From mangrove paradise to polluted megasprawl
Cancún: From mangrove paradise to polluted megasprawl
Extracted from Guardian.co.uk
The biggest explosion in Cancún has been the city itself. New figures from the Mexican government show that the fastest-growing major resort in the world now gets more than 7 million visitors a year and has possibly 1 million permanent inhabitants. Yet in 1974 when the World Bank kick-started, Cancún it was a collection of huts and a small fishing village. It now has 80,000 hotel beds and more than 500 major hotels and resorts, including the Moon Palace hotel and the Cancúnmesse, where UN talks to agree action on climate change are under way.
“It was either forest or small communities [you would have seen if you visited before its development]. Everything exploded in the mid-1980s”, says Barbara Bramble, adviser to the National Wildlife Federation in Washington DC, who used to visit at that time.
“Mangroves covered all the coastal area. They have just been paved over. This is the star example of how not to build a mass tourism mecca. It is an ecological mistake that should never have happened.”
Exponential growth is now taking place all along a 100km stretch of coast south of Cancún. The village of Porto Morelos had 409 hotel beds in 2003; now it has 10,000. Playa del Carmen has been growing in population by more than 10% a year since 1985 and now has over 250,000 people. The once sleepy village of Tulum faces a city the size of Geneva, including a new international airport and three golf courses, being built on its doorstep. A frenzy of road-building, illegal mangrove destruction, land speculation and house-building is now taking place.
“All this development has an immense human and ecological effect which, combined with climate change, will result in a human and natural tragedy,” warns Roberto Iglesias-Prieto, a marine eco-physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Puerto Morelos.
Mangroves in the state of Quintana Roo are being lost at a rate of about 4% a year, an amount that represents a loss of 150,000 hectares a year. Whole beaches are being eroded by storm surges – Last year, Cancún had to spend $20m shipping in more sand.
At risk, says Iglesias-Preto, is the whole Mesoamerican reef system, which stretches 625 miles down the Yucatan pensinsula towards Honduras, and is the second biggest coral reef in the world after the Great Barrier in Australia.
Pollution from pig farms, golf courses, septic tanks, hotels dumping water from their laundries into the mangroves, new roads and the destruction of mangroves is all seriously degrading the water quality, he says. In addition, rubbish is dumped in the mangroves and deforestation sees topsoil making its way into the sea as sediment that asphyxiates sea life and damages the food chain upon which coral is reliant.
Nearly all the human waste water is “deep injected” below the drinking water aquifer, but while this sounded a good idea 20 years ago it is now found seeping up through the rocks into the aquifers, and flushed out into the sea where it attacks the reef.
“Nutrients from human urine and fertiliser from golf courses are now major threats to the reef,” says Iglesias-Pietro.
Only about one third of the waste water from the tourist developments is treated, with the rest going straight to the aquifer, underground rivers or the sea.
This week, a study part-funded by the US Nature Conservancy which measures the quality of the reef in 350 places, showed that the quality of the corals is dropping alarmingly, with up to 80% of the live corals along much of the reef being lost in under 20 years.
“It’s a really bad situation. The reef is not in good shape. The sea change in the corals came around six years ago. There has been an important drop in the amount of fish and in the corals,” says Iglesias -Pietro.
He fears that climate change and accompanying sea level rises, together with more frequent storm surges, will devastate the reef completely, and lead to more damage on land. This year has seen major coral bleaching along much of the reef as sea tenmperatures rose to some of their highest-ever temperatures. Scientists expect wholesale die-offs in the future.
“Reefs can only grow in the right circumstances. If CO2 in the atmosphere rises to 450ppm [parts per million], the limit that politicians are prepared to go to, then there will be a major die-back of reefs around the world. Even a rise of 2C in temperature will be a major problem. We have to [keep] to 350ppm. It is the only way to stabilise the climate that is compatible with coral reefs. We are committed to a 1.5C risealready, anything more is very serious,” says Iglesias-Prieto. “The game is not over, but it looks bad.”
“”If we [Cancún’s hotel-owners] were dairy farmers we’d be the worst in the world – you do not kill your cow,” says Paul Sanchez Navarro, director of the Centro Ecológico Akumal, set up by small-scale hotel owners to fight massive developments in the booming town, which threaten some of the best turtle breeding grounds in the world. “But that’s what we are doing. Nature here is for sale, and nothing is being done to protect the sand, the sea and the forests.”
Representa Sian Ka’an un paraiso en el Caribe mexicano
Representa Sian Ka’an un paraiso en el caribe mexicano
El lugar es amenazado por basura y especies externas
Por Maria Cristina de la Cruz, Corresponsal, Tulum, QRoo. , 9 Dic. (Notimex).
Los ojos se deslumbran ante la inmensa alfombra verde formada por la selva y los manglares de Sian Ka’an, lugar marcado por una sinuosa laguna que se maneja con la complicidad de las apacibles olas del Mar Caribe.
Este sitio, conocido como el “lugar donde nace el cielo”, se extiende orgulloso por Tulum y Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
La Reserva de la Biosfera se ofrece virgen frente a un mar pintado de muchos azules, cuyo encanto es inmediato al ser acompanado por el silencio que solo es roto por los sonidos de las aves que danzan en lo alto.
Son aguilas pescadoras, pelicanos, espatulas chocolateras y fragatas, estas ultimas dedicadas a robarse la comida de las demas.
El vehiculo con un grupo de reporteros ha atravesado el arco maya donde una placa da cuenta que en 1987 la Organizacion de las Naciones Unidas para la Educacion, la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco) declaro Sian Ka’an como patrimonio de la humanidad.
El director de esta reserva natural protegida de un tamano un poco mayor a la geografia de Tlaxcala, Francisco Ursua Guerrero, iba frente al volante sorteando cientos de hoyancos en el camino de terraceria que hacen saltar al automovil y a sus ocupantes.
No obstante, Ursua Guerrero se daba tiempo para explicar lo que hay en la espesura de los verdes que dan la bienvenida desde la entrada.
El tres por ciento de este trozo de paraiso, ubicado a pocos minutos del centro de Tulum, a dos horas de Cancun y una hora de Playa del Carmen, esta ocupado por propiedades privadas y comunidades de pescadores.
Sin embargo, atrae anualmente a por lo menos 100 mil visitantes de 80 nacionalidades, entre investigadores y turistas, que buscan la paz al reconectarse con la naturaleza y alejarse del ajetreo de las grandes ciudades.
En el trayecto hay grandes bolsas negras apiladas y en su interior basura recogida de las playas, y este es precisamente uno de los dos grandes problemas que enfrenta Sian Ka’an, lo cual afecta de manera particular a las tortugas.
La corriente marina arrastra plasticos, vidrios y solidos flotantes que son dificiles de colocar en empresas recicladoras debido a lo complicado de su tratamiento por tanto tiempo expuestos al agua.
El experto dijo que es comun recoger dos toneladas de basura en cada dos kilometros de playa, y a las tres semanas o al mes la cantidad de desechos, provenientes de mas de 30 paises, segun las etiquetas detectadas, pueden alcanzar las 400 toneladas.
Destaco que 80 por ciento de los desechos son plasticos, y el resto es conformado por vidrios, sandalias, pedazos de refrigeradores y materiales biologico-infecciosos muy peligrosos.
En la laguna Caapechen hay vertederos de agua dulce en la laguna de agua salada.
Son una especie de tuneles que se conectan al manglar que sirven de “supermercado” en la produccion de alimentos a los manaties, segun la biologa Janette Acosta.
La especialista de la Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas (Conanp) compartio tambien las explicaciones acerca del origen y uso que se dio a un monolito de piedra caliza surgido en la laguna.
Acosta explico que es uno de los 300 vestigios de la cultura maya fabricados con piedra caliza, y que segun los estudios cientificos supuestamente fue utilizado como punto de control a la navegacion en la zona.
Aqui una amenaza mas es el pez leon depredador de otras especies marinas con una capacidad extraordinaria de reproduccion.
De caprichosas formas y franjas en tonalidades escarlata esta especie introducida en aguas caribenas hace mas de ano y medio actualmente tiene en jaque a los pescadores que buscan la manera de exterminarlo.
La principal tactica ideada por los pescadores es atraparlo para convertirlo en un suculento platillo pues su carne es muy blanca y su sabor muy similar al mero.
Una vez retirada las espinas donde almacena las toxinas que pueden causar fuertes dolores a la victima es perfectamente comestible, segun la explicacion ofrecida por Fredy Martin Sierra, un nativo que mezcla su actividad de captura de langosta con la de guia de turistas.
Este hombre comparte el placer que le da ser pescador al narrar la forma en que atrapan las langostas en los espacios de parcela distribuidos entre los socios de la cooperativa de Los Alushes.
Aunque ellos las venden en 150 pesos, los restaurantes las ofrecen como un platillo exotico con un valor de hasta 900 pesos.
De pie frente al breve lazo que une a la laguna Caapechen con el mar en Boca Paila, y un arcoiris que timidamente aparece entre los haces de luces que se filtran por entre las nubes grises, el pescador describe como las langostas depositan a sus mas de cinco mil crias de las cuales apenas sobreviven unas cuantas al llegar a la superficie.
Esta a punto de caer la tarde y desde el mirador de madera en el centro de visitantes se puede apreciar en todo su esplendor.
Muestran hallazgos en Tulum a delegados de la COP-16
Muestran hallazgos en Tulum a delegados de la COP-16
Tulum, QR.- Una muralla en perfecto estado de conservación y un pequeño altar en forma de cruz, localizado a unos metros de El Castillo, la estructura más significativa de la zona arqueológica de Tulum, son dos de los descubrimientos más recientes que la arqueóloga Adriana Velázquez Morlet, directora del Centro INAH-Quintana Roo, muestra a MILENIO, tal como lo hará con los representantes de las 196 naciones que participan en la 16 Conferencia de las Partes sobre Cambio Climático, que se desarrolla en Cancún.
La funcionaria explica que se trata de una muralla “que contiene la quinta puerta de entrada al sur del sitio, localizada por los arqueólogos Luis Leira y Enrique Terrones. Durante los trabajos de preservación de la zona se hizo limpieza y debajo de un montículo de piedras y arenas y ramas se encontraba oculto este vestigio, nunca antes visto”.
Por lo que respecta al altar de tipo doméstico, encontrado a unos metros de El Castillo —el edificio más significativo de Tulum, construido al borde del acantilado, mediante diversas superposiciones, alcanzando los 12 metros de altura—, Leira y Terrones aseguran que es único en su género, por su posición y tipo de construcción.
La funcionaria destacó que Tulum tiene mucho que revelar durante el desarrollo de la Cumbre de la ONU sobre Cambio Climático, como el hecho de que los mayas —a quienes se les idealiza por su relación con la naturaleza— afectaron sin querer el medio ambiente al instalarse y construir sus portentosas edificaciones en escenarios frente al mar.
“Eran tantos los habitantes en esta zona, que ejercieron una importante presión sobre los recursos naturales y el medio ambiente, tiraban y quemaban los árboles para establecerse en este sitio, sin mencionar que tenían que dar de comer a unas 20 mil personas que habitaban en la zona oriental, más de la población que habita actualmente en esta región”, explica Velázquez Morlet.
Continúa litigio
Los invitados especiales, procedentes de la Cumbre de Cambio Climático conocerán ese mágico lugar, al que los antiguos mayas le dieron el nombre de Tulum, que significa cerco o muralla.
Pese a la belleza natural de este sitio localizado frente al mar azul turquesa de la Riviera Maya —particularmente a 128 Kilómetros al sur de la ciudad de Cancún—, es un sitio que enfrenta la presión de los consorcios hoteleros, que desean seguir construyendo sus complejos turísticos en la zona. Actualmente existen más de 900 habitaciones en la zona restringida, sin autorización.
De hecho, continúa el litigio en “la Corte” entre la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (Conanp) y los hoteleros, porque ese sitio es uno de los principales generadores de recursos económicos por el número de turistas que lo visitan de todo el mundo.
Pero se trata de un área protegida, más de 600 hectáreas preservan animales y mangle que vale la pena conservar. Por ello, las autoridades se han propuesto luchar por su preservación, apoyadas en dos decretos. El primero de ellos se firmó el 23 de abril de 1981, en el que se declara Parque Nacional a Tulum y se expropia el área; el segundo tiene fecha del 8 de diciembre de 1993, y en él se declara zona de monumentos arqueológicos al área Tulum-Tankah.
Lo que los visitantes pueden corroborar es que el Parque Tulum reporta en buen estado de conservación los ecosistemas de dunas y su humedales.
La delegada Velázquez Morlet asegura que para preservar este legado se planea un corredor cultural, y de esta forma hacer frente a la visita masiva de cinco mil personas por día.
Por lo pronto, ya existen veredas para evitar que los turistas se suban a los basamentos arqueológicos. Previendo eso, en breve ampliaremos la oferta al público.
“Intentaremos repartir la presión sobre Tulum, invitando a los visitantes a que conozcan otras zonas arqueológicas que están muy cercanas de aquí, como Cobá”, subraya la titular de la delegación estatal del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Adriana Velázquez Morlet.
“Magnificencia”
– En breve se ampliará la información sobre Tulum: en un sala se dará una muestra de cómo era en los años 20 a través de una exposición fotográfica, además de la proyección de un audiovisual.
– La muralla descubierta es parte de la arquitectura de Tulum que impresionó a los españoles cuando la vieron por primera vez. Se dice que durante le expedición de Juan de Grijalva, el cronista Juan Díez, al ver la ciudad amurallada, la comparó con la “magnificencia” de Sevilla.
Leticia Sánchez Milenio.com
Wind Energy Powers COP-16
Wind Energy Powers COP-16
Posted by Joanna Schroeder – November 30th, 2010
It is only fitting that wind energy would supply power to an environmental conference. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-16) is in full swing in Cancun, Mexico and renewable energies are taking center stage. Cancun’s windmill will produce 1.5 megawatts on each day, enough energy to power 1,500 houses. This according to the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.
“Mexico can generate up to 71 megawatts due to its geographic conditions. This will mean a reduction of as much as 2,000 tons of CO2,” stated Hinojosa during the inauguration of the windmill, just one day before COP16 kicked off on November 29, 2010.
Energy used for the Conference will be produced by the the windmill along with solar cells installed at the Moon Palace Hotel. This is a joint project with Italy. In addition, the country will “capture carbon” to offset the carbon produced during COP-16.
In the beginning of Hinojosa’s administration, Mexico generated only 2 megawatts of clean energy. The goal of the administration is to produce 2,160 megawatts by the end of the term. This means that 26 percent of the total energy produced in Mexico would be from renewable sources. Mexico is one of the leading countries in its reduction of CO2 emissions, right after Germany and South Africa.
Countries And Companies Talk Climate Change At COP 16 In Cancun
Countries And Companies Talk Climate Change At COP 16 In Cancun
Lora Kolodny, Source: http://techcrunch.com
The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP16 kicked off yesterday in Cancun, Mexico. Delegates from 192 nations are attending through December 10 hoping to determine a collective, international approach to slowing and preparing their countries for an increase in global temperatures.
Conference goals— laid out at an opening address by Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)— include the establishment of: commitments from countries to stop deforestation, a fund worth approximately $100 billion-a-year by 2013 to help poor people cope with climate change, and mechanisms that facilitate technology transfer between nations.
Last year’s COP 15 conference in Copenhagen failed in its primary mission to draw countries into a legally binding agreement to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. After the event, however, seventy countries signed the Copenhagen Accord, a voluntary political agreement to address climate change. As part of the accord, the U.S. said it hoped to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 but made no firm promises.
Studies published today by the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions A journal predict that world temperatures could rise by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2F) as soon as 2060 if humanity’s contributions to climate change go unchecked.
The effects of warming that aggressive would include everything from drinking water shortages, to the loss of marine life (and important seafood supplies) as oceans become more acidic. The costs for nations to cope with such changes would be astronomical. Climate change deniers continue to shrug off studies illustrating how people exacerbate climate change. Although the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century, skeptics still believe a rise in global temperatures is all natural, or that there’s little we can do about global warming save to accept it and adapt.
NASA rsearchers, however, have confirmed that the world has been warming up more quickly in the last thirty years than ever before, with the 20 warmest years having occurred since 1981 and all 10 of the warmest years occurring in the past 12 years, thanks in measurable part to greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human energy consumption and industries.
The executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) in Washington D.C., Carol Werner, says that even climate change deniers should hope for some COP 16 outcomes:
We would like to see a formal agreement between countries and companies to curb black carbon, or soot, produced from diesel, inefficient cookstoves and open burning heat and energy sources. And we would like to see continued, respectful negotiations led by the United States and China that will shape the way that countries agree to monitor, report and verify their energy consumption, production and emissions.
Transparency helps businesses and trade policy makers not just environmentalists, while soot in the air has preventable negative health impacts besides contributing to climate change, Werner notes.
If nations do not make concrete promises and legally binding agreements to address climate change, the private sector may outpace them quickly enough to make an impact. Hundreds of c-suite level executives are attending COP 16 and ancillary summits such as The World Climate Summit, Green Solutions, the World Business Council For Sustainable Development’s Building Bridges event, and the Climate Group’s Climate Leaders Summit.
EESI’s Werner says the COP has become a place where companies— perhaps even more than countries— now go to showcase their own clean technologies and environmental best practices, while lobbying for policies that will benefit, or at least not adversely effect their industries.
Cancun climate summit garners hope of balanced outcome
Cancun climate summit garners hope of balanced outcome
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NEW DELHI: Just a week ahead of the climate change summit in Cancun, there appears to be some resurgence of hope that the UN sponsored process will result in a balanced outcome, which could result in a global agreement at a later date. India appears to have played a pro-active and constructive role in laying out the basis for this balanced outcome.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s framework on “international consultation and analysis” balanced out by a technology mechanism, actual disbursement of finance, found acceptance among participants of the recently concluded meeting of Major Economies Forum.
The Major Economies Forum meet in Washington was attended by representatives of 17 major economies and emitters, as well as the United Nations, with Barbados, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, and Spain. The participants expressed support for concluding a “package of decisions at Cancun” which would include adaptation, mitigation, MRV/ICA, finance, and technology.
In his note to the MEF, Mr Ramesh had made it clear that developing countries would consider signing on to a system of global monitoring of climate change efforts or international consultation and analysis only if industrialised rich countries met certain conditions. This includes the US improving its emisssion reduction pledges, and industrialised countries will have to agree to a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. While the chair’s summary of the MEF meeting is silent on the emission reduction targets of the US and other industrialised countries, there appears to be a consensus on an agreement on future Kyoto commitments in a Cancun package. There was also discussion of the relationship between the Kyoto Protocol and LCA tracks.
Rumbo a la COP 16 en Cancún
Rumbo a la COP 16 en Cancún
Por Alejandra Boites
Colaboración especial de PM 2.5
La fecha se acerca. Cancún, México será la sede de la Cumbre de Cambio Climático de la ONU y todo mundo busca hospedaje para estar presentes del 29 de noviembre al 10 de diciembre en la discusión más importante del año en temas ambientales.
En el Caribe Mexicano los integrantes de organizaciones no gubernamentales buscan ya los lugares para alojarse y la mejor opción serán los campamentos que se instalarán en diferentes puntos de la delegación de Puerto Morelos, poblado ubicado a 20 minutos de Cancún.
Recientemente una comitiva de activistas, proveniente de Copenhague, estuvo de visita en Puerto Morelos para ver de cerca las instalaciones y servicios con los que se cuenta en ese lugar.
Los integrantes de las ONG’s, que visitaron Puerto Morelos, eligieron las zonas de cenotes y otras áreas naturales para que quienes asistan a la Cumbre acampen ahí ¿Un pretexto para disfrutar los escenarios naturales que ofrece nuestro país, o la opción más accesible para estar presentes en la discusión del futuro del planeta?
Cualquiera de las dos, pero lo cierto es que los ojos del mundo estarán puestos en México. Mientras las autoridades pretenden llevar la batuta para que las naciones logren un acuerdo para mitigar los efectos del calentamiento global, los mexicanos ni enterados están de este evento.
¿Dónde está la promoción, la información y la inclusión de la sociedad mexicana en este magno evento?
Por lo pronto, en Puerto Morelos trabajan a marchas forzadas para que el turismo se sienta como en casa. La capacidad hotelera está al tope, con las más de 20 mil personas, que se espera, lleguen a la Cumbre.
Ojalá este evento se traduzca en el tan anhelado acuerdo mundial, para enfrentar el cambio climático y sus efectos; y no se quede sólo en una la actividad turística.
Good Morning Tulum
Good morning Tulum!
Yeah, I’ve lived here quite a long time now. The Maya spirits know me well, the jungle animals and fauna trust me implicitly, and my Tulumense friends are numerous. I need to spend more time on the beach, more time in the Caribbean waters, more time exploring the underground rivers of fresh mineral waters known as cenotes.
The stars still shine brightly over my home. I guess the limited growth of large scale city style lighting has resulted in less night light pollution. I hope to see the US space shuttle pass overhead again this week as it falls back through our planetary atmosphere heading towards it’s landing pad in Florida. I saw it two years ago and it was quite a sight, even though I didn’t hear the sonic boom as it sped on past.
It’s fun to ride my bike around Tulum town. I can chat with locals or meet tourists from virtually anywhere in the world. Most tourists who come to Tulum town only stay a few hours or a few days, then continue on to Palenque, Tikal and other parts of Mexico and Central America. Then there are the people who live here off and on, staying during the winter months or going back and forth to their home countries, working there and relaxing here.
Many people like me have decided to stay full time and build their homes. Living in the jungle is like being a pioneer, slowly building, fixing and maintaining your home, whatever type of home that might be. Some people live in palapas, some in a tent on the beach, more and more in newly built air conditioned casas de lujo (luxury homes). But everybody continues to intend upon making their little slice of paradise better, poco a poco (little by little), just like a pioneer.
I enjoy eating the fruits and veggies from of my garden milpa (milpa is a Maya word for farm field). I eat chaya with eggs in the morning, papaya, coco and noni juice during the day and nopal cactus with dinner. I also enjoy a cold beer on hot afternoons. The heat can be oppressive in the summer but believe it or not my Colorado blood has changed to Caribbean blood and now there are times in winter in which I wish I had a fireplace to warm my old, cold jungle bones.
Many Tulumenses don’t like the fast growth rate, not wanting the city to encroach. I think most Tulumenses don’t like the shark like business mentality of many of the novatos (rookies) who come here. But Tulum has a way of shaking out those who do not vibe with the vibe here… if you know what I mean. We have a wonderful mix of Maya, Mexican, Belizian, Italian, French, Argentinian, American, Canadian, British, Czech Republic, Cuban and Spanish people who live here full time and are vested in their interest for the positive responsible growth in the region.
Yes, we jungle people see the environmental changes going on. The ocean waters don’t display the same extent of magical colored coral reefs as they once did only a few years ago. The results of rising ocean temperatures and major hurricanes have taken their toll. Luckily the cenotes are fresh and clean as ever since the underground river current stems from miles and miles of endless jungle stretching across the Yucatan peninsula. Filtered through limestone caves, the fresh clean well water is one of my favorite things about living here.
The Maya ruins of Zama, now known as Tulum, have also weathered the storm but thankfully still vibrate highly and invigorate thousands of tourists everyday. I always thought it was a pity, economically speaking, that Tulum town receives virtually no impact from the amazing Maya ruins on the beach. But maybe that is for the best, allowing us Tulumenses to grow at our own natural rate, which to me has not changed since I came here almost ten years ago.
In Tulum you can hear many different languages being spoken, with Maya Yucateca being the most interesting. Just like many people speak Spanglish, the Maya people of Tulum mix English, Spanish, Italian and French words with aplomb. When I speak Spanish with Latinos in the USA or Espanolos from Spain, they almost always have to ask me to explain some of my word usage. Like a Brit speaking with an American, sometimes the words don’t have the same meaning there as it does here.
But that is what makes life interesting and why Tulum is such a fascinating place to live.
Good morning Tulum! And have a great day…
Tulum Real Estate Properties 